SERICUL TURE AND THE PROCESS OF CHANGE - Institute for ...

people's attitudes towards Community Development programmes and in
organising various activities (Madan 1983 :402) Some of the
development progranunes, fail to get people's acceptance and are
shelved. This is mainly due to the lack of proper assessment of the
'adaptive preparedness' of the people (Mascarenhas 1988: 19) before the
initiation of the programmes.
Thus, any change or innovation., desired or initiated, assumes
social significance only when it is compatible or acceptable within the
value framework and beliefs of a given society; it either automatically
fits into the existing pattern of beliefs and values or is reinterpreted to
get the sanction of the people. Acceptance of, or exposure to, one factor
may initiate a chain of changes in the entire pattern of beliefs and
values, shaping the social behaviour of the people. The resulting changes
may not always be uniform. This is evident from Epstein's study (1979)
of two Karnataka Villages, in which she observes a differential impact in
the process of change, from subsistence to cash economy. One village
has remained as a discrete agricultural economy while the other, with its
increased urban employment, has integrated itself with the regional
economy, She also notices a differential change in the economic roles of
wives. In one village, the wives assume a new status criterion while
there is a reinforcement of the existing one in the other, as it is not
incompatible with the new situation.
Reinterpretation of an innovation becomes easier when it is able
to demonstrate its economic value. People accept some programmes
without much resistance when such programmes contribute to the
material prosperity of the household (Madan 1983: 402). Many authors
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